Record stores in Osaka and Okayama

[Fanalstatt]

Off to Japan for a month. The biggest cities I'll be at are Osaka and Okayama, first time I visit them. I know worthwhile stores in Tokyo but there doesn't seem to be anything in Osaka or let alone Okayama for Industrial, Noise, PE. Any tips?

[Black Psychosis]

Haven't been to this store but have ordered from them online, they are in Osaka -

http://revenge.shop-pro.jp/

Lots of punk stuff but they stock some Japanese noise stuff.

[ConcreteMascara]

I'm pretty sure its closed but Grave Records in Osaka is/was a wonderful little store owned by Chew of Corrupted.

And always check out Disk Union. You never know what lurks in its shelves.

[mk3ukr]

Disc Union and Forever Records in Osaka

[Fanalstatt]

Thanks!

[searchofexit]

These places will be swarming with people going to the Hospital/NWN fest the days surrounding the fest

[Fanalstatt]

People should make sure to contact Forever Records before going there. I went there twice during opening hours and no one was there, so I had to contact him to know what's up. Third time finally worked and I actually stayed there for much longer than I intended.

The owner is very friendly and talkative (not sure whether he can speak English though, we talked in Japanese). That guy also apparently conducted the interview for the Monde Bruits box set on Industrial Recollections.

Great store overall, wide selection of classic Industrial, Noise, Free Jazz and Japanese oddities. But make sure to write him before going there, that's what he told me to do in the future also.

[Marko-V]

Just spent few weeks in Osaka. Revenge Records is good for punk/hardcore stuff (and some Controlled Death vinyls).

Forever Records is a nice place. Accidentally dropped there and it was open without any emails etc. Quite nice collection of noise/exp stuff (new and 2nd hand). I was salivating over those Hair Stylistics CDr series with which looked like hand printed covers. Instead I bought among others an Aube live-cd box set which lead to seller digging up some storage boxes and showing me all his G.R.O.S.S. original special packages. Yeah, that was an entertaining record store visit. And oh yes, he definitely speaks English.

Disk Union is worth a visit even though it is considered as 'all-tastes' record shop. There's a dedicated section to noise/exp/avant stuff with new and used records. I found Extreme Music From Russia 2nd hand cd, Macromenia 10xCDr box set 2nd hand (for very cheap) and Throbbing Gristle Part Two/TG Now Japanese double-cd 2nd hand among other stuff. Saw there also some Violent Onsen Geisha vinyls, Space Machine wooden box set etc.

While searching for some Japanese pressings and Japanese metal/punk I noticed a time-consuming annoyance. Since at least 90% of Japanese releases have obi strips -> that's what you see when looking at cd shelves. As a non-Japanese-speaking person that's a pain in the ass because the shops' alphabetic system and music categories seem to have a logic of their own. Found accidentally some Gero cd's filed under J-Pop. That's not a problem at smaller niche shops but if you drop in larger record chain stores, be ready to spend some time there searching.

If any should be interested in more mainstream artists' bootleg-cd's (Sabbath, Zeppelin, Oasis etc.) or Japanese 60's pop vinyls, visit Den Den Town's small shops. Close to Forever Records.

Advice: When going to smaller shops, bring cash, just in case. Japan is still very much cash based society even though credit cards are accepted at much larger scale nowadays compared to my last visit 15 years ago.

Happy hunting!

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I don't know how it is in most of countries, but Japan is definitely good for bootleg recordings. I don't mean stuff like you see now around europe, all the pirate presses of whatever albums on LP. You got to be very careful these days when at record fares or such, when seeing deal that is "too good to be true" and it is big chance its just replica of old album..
With good bootlegs, I mean of course live recordings, demo recordings, things that never came out officially.
I got this quite demented passion to "collect" Guns'n'Roses stuff. I don't that much of mainstream records in general, not even rock music, but for reason or another, few hundred GNR cd/lp, hah...  Japan was place where you could just walk into record store and find things like Chinese Democracy live 3xCD box before the album was even nowhere near to be released. Leaked unmastered recordings. All sorts of weird stuff you'd never really see anywhere. In tokyo, there would be tons, at least back then.

[Marko-V]

I got this quite demented passion to "collect" Guns'n'Roses stuff.

G'n'R boots? I guess we all have our guilty pleasures and skeletons in the closet. Should have a topic of it's own.

[theotherjohn]

Mikko wrote years ago (perhaps on the Troniks forum) that he had a room solely dedicated to his Guns N' Roses collection. I can only assume now that he has a separate building to house it all.

[Eastern Embargo]

any suggestions on where to look for Hospital/NWN resale tickets?

I can go now but the event is sold out :/

[WCN]

Sold

[PTM Jim]

These places will be swarming with people going to the Hospital/NWN fest the days surrounding the fest

Exactly why I will NOT be going to any when I'm there. Sounds like a nightmare.